OSEANOGRAFI

(PIM 2213, 2/1 SKS)

Sea water element,

Nutrient

Millero,
The big 6 of major components of Seawater
Constituent major

Materi padat dalam air laut, komposisi yang sangat

kompleks, terdiri dari substansial berbagai macam
unsur : Cl, Na, Mg, Ca dan K. (WILLIAM Dittmar, 1884)

§  Conservative: the substances that occur in

concentrations greater than 1 mg/kg, nearly constant
proportions to each other and to the salinity.

§  Non conservative : the substances present in
concentrations of less than 1 mg/kg
Source of major components of seawater
Allochthonous :
§  Weathering à pelapukan
§  Volcano eruption
§  Anthropogenics

Autochthonous :
§  Advection : the transfer of matter by the flow of a fluid, especially
horizontally in the atmosphere or the sea.
§  Mixing/up welling
§  Biodegradation (perombakan senyawa organik komplek mjd senyawa
yg lbh sederhana)
§  Disolusi (proses perpindahan molekul zat dari dalam bentuk padat ke
dalam bentuk larutan)
§  Underwater eruption
§  Hydrothermal vent (retakan di permukaan planet yg secara
geothermal memanaskan perairan Ex: mata air panas, fumarol,
geiser)
Steady state ocean
§  Laut à simple reservoir dari berbagai elemen
§  Apakah laut menjadi lebih asin??
§  Salinitas di laut adalah dalam kondisi mapan (steady
state) à jumlah garam yang ditambahkan (masukan
dari sumber) sama dengan jumlah keluar/hilang
(output tenggelam)
§  Ocean is in approx. chemical equilibrium; proportion
and amounts of dissolved solids remain constant
§  The chemical budgets balance

Residence Time
èAverage length of time that an ion or element
remains in solution in the ocean.

§  Ions with long residence times tend to accumulate
in the sea; Ions with short residence times are
removed.
§  Rapid mixing and long residence times explain
constant composition of sea water.

 Conservative and Non Conservative
Constituents

§  Conservative constituents of seawater occur in

constant proportions, long residence times and
are the most abundant dissolved salts in the
ocean
§  Non conservative constituents, non constant
proportion, short residence times, and are
usually associated with seasonal, biological or
short geological cycles
Residence Times of major sea water element
Composition of minor/trace components of seawater

§ Major elements à concentration greater than 1 ppm (O, H, Cl,

Na, Mg, S, Ca, K, Br, C, Sr, B, Si, and F).
§ The remaining elements called minor element, trace
constituent if it occurs in amounts < 1 ppm, very low
concentrations à parts per billion (ppb) à (Fe, Mn, Mo, Zn,
Co, Cu, and V)
§ Many minor and trace elements are essential for the survival of
organisms, both in the sea and on land.
§ Many of these components are non-conservative (non
constant proportion, short residence time)
§ The ones which are involved in biological processes.
§ Others which vary because of chemical processes such as
oxidation are also non-conservative.
Trace elements in seawater
Definition: Those elements that do not contribute to salinity
All elements less than 1 mg kg-1 (<1 ppm)

Why are they important?
1. Many are micronutrients (e.g. Fe, Cu) – speciation is important
2. Others are toxic (e.g. Cu, Hg)
3. Some are tracers for redox conditions (Mn, Fe, Cr, I, Re, Mo, V, U)
4. Some are enriched in economic deposits such as manganese nodules (e.g.
Cu, Co, Ni, Cd)
5. Some have man made sources and are tracers of pollution (e.g. Pb, Pu, Ag)

** Difficult to collect samples for without contamination and difficult to
analyze.
Nutrient
Nutrients are another set of natural, non conservative,
commonly observed properties. These include dissolved
silica, phosphate and nitrogen compounds (ammonium,
nitrite, and nitrate).

Nutrients are essential to ocean life so they are consumed in the

ocean’s surface layers where life is abundant: consequently,
concentration there are low. Nutrient contents increases with
depth and age.

Silica is used by some organism to form protective shells. Silica

re-enteres the water column when the hard parts of these
organism dissolve as they fall to the ocean floor.

Some of this material reaches the sea floor and accumulates,

creating silica sources on the ocean bottom as well. Some
silica also enters the water column through venting at mid-
ocean ridges.
Phosphorus
§  Perannya yang penting dalam aktivitas biologis à ekstensif
dipelajari.
§  Fosfor memiliki sifat unik tertentu, konstituen penting dari
materi genetik (RNA dan DNA) dari semua organisme,
penting dalam banyak mekanisme transformasi energi
(Via ATP, dll) dari semua organisme (Westheimer 1987).
§  Support pembentukan tulang
§  Semua makhluk hidup membutuhkan fosfor à ada dalam
air laut hanya dalam konsentrasi yang sangat rendahà
pembatas pertumbuhan biomassa organisme hidup di laut
(Limiting nutrient)
§  Kondisi tertentu à banyak situasi lokal àsatu atau zat lain
dapat mengambil alih peran nutrisi pembatas.
§  The phosphorus cycle originates in sediments, the main
reservoir for phosphates, while rainwater contains a minimal
amount of this nutrient, so it is classified as a sedimentary
cycle.
§  The major source of phosphorus in soil is apatite, a calcium-
phosphate mineral, and the weathering of terrestrial deposits
releases phosphorus, some of which goes into rivers, lakes, or
oceans.
§  Phosphorus occurs in nature as the phosphate ion (PO43−).
§  Phosphorus is also reciprocally exchanged between phosphate
dissolved in the ocean and marine ecosystems.
§  The movement of phosphate from the ocean to the land and
through the soil is extremely slow à phosphate ion having an
oceanic residence time between 20,000 and 100,000 years.
In nature, phosphorus exists as the phosphate ion (PO43 ). Weathering of rocks and volcanic activity releases
phosphate into the soil, water, and air, where it becomes available to terrestrial food webs. Phosphate enters
the oceans via surface runoff, groundwater flow, and river flow. Phosphate dissolved in ocean water cycles into
marine food webs. Some phosphate from the marine food webs falls to the ocean floor, where it forms
sediment. (credit: modification of work by John M. Evans and Howard Perlman, USGS)
http://cnx.org/contents/ZdFkREJc@6/Biogeochemical-Cycles
Forms of occurrence in seawater
§  Inorganic phosphate ànearly all dissolved phosphorus is
present as simple inorganic phosphate (often called
orthophosphate) in its various ionized forms
§  Organic phosphorus: organic compounds of phosphorus,
mineralized (this term means broken down and
the components released in non-organic forms)
§  phospholipids, phosphoproteins, nucleic acids and
nucleotides, phosphocarbohydrates, and phosphonic acid
derivatives.
Surface Phosphate
Nitrogen
§  As with phosphorus, nitrogen is an absolutely
essential ingredient of all living things, and is
required in amounts commonly about 16 times
greater than is phosphorus.
§  All living organisms need nitrogen, a chemical
element used to form proteins.
§  Proteins make up the structure of organisms and
produce life-sustaining functions, including
development, growth and reproduction.
§  About one third of all nitrogen on Earth is in the atmosphere

Nitrogen enters the living world from the atmosphere via nitrogen-fixing bacteria. This nitrogen and
nitrogenous waste from animals is then processed back into gaseous nitrogen by soil bacteria, which also supply
terrestrial food webs with the organic nitrogen they need. (credit: modification of work by John M. Evans and
Howard Perlman, USGS)
 NITRIFICATION
§  Nitrification naturally occurs in the environment, where it is
carried out by specialized bacteria.
§  First part : Nitritation
§  Ammonia à converted to nitrites (NO2-) and then to
nitrates. The initial step of this process, known as,
involves a type of bacteria called Nitrosomonas.
Nitrosomonas convert NH3 (ammonia) into NO2
(nitrogen dioxide).
§  The second part : Nitration
§  Final product à NO3-
§  Nitration uses the enzyme nitrite oxidoreductase (NOR)
to complete the nitrification process.
Surface Nitrate
 Dead Zone
§  Excess phosphorus and nitrogen that enters these ecosystems
from fertilizer runoff and from sewage causes excessive growth
of microorganisms and depletes the dissolved oxygen, which
leads to the death of many ecosystem fauna, such as shellfish
and finfish.
§  This process is responsible for dead zones in lakes and at the
mouths of many major rivers
§  A dead zone is an area within a freshwater or marine ecosystem
where large areas are depleted of their normal flora and fauna;
these zones can be caused by eutrophication, oil spills, dumping
of toxic chemicals, and other human activities.
§  The number of dead zones has been increasing for several years,
and more than 400 of these zones were present as of 2008.
Dead zones occur when phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilizers cause excessive growth of microorganisms,
which depletes oxygen and kills fauna. Worldwide, large dead zones are found in coastal areas of high
population density. (credit: NASA Earth Observatory)
 Silicon
§  Silicon is a major constituent of Earth and is always found
combined with oxygen.
Silicon dioxide, SiO2, is commonly called silica
§  Silica à one of the important plant nutrients in seawater, even
though not all plants appear to need it, and some animals do.
§  The single-celled algae called diatoms, silicoflagellates à make
shells à amorphous silica (opal)
§  Radiolaria (important class of protozoa), unicellular forms
related to the amoebaeà skeletons à silica.
§  Some groups of sponges, primarily those that live in the deep
sea à construct a framework or skeleton of silicaà intricate
and beautiful.
Surface Silicate
Chemical Composition of Biological Particulate Material

Hard Parts - Shells

Name Mineral Size (mm)
Plants
Coccoliths CaCO3 Calcite 5
Diatoms SiO2 Opal 10-15
Silicoflagellates SiO2 Opal 30
Animals
Foraminifera CaCO3 Calcite ~100
and Aragonite
Radiolaria SiO2 Opal ~100
Pteropods CaCO3 Aragonite ~1000
Acantharia SrSO4 Celestite ~100
Soft Parts - protoplasm

from Redfield, Ketchum and Richards (1963) The Sea Vol. 2

Also for particles caught by sediment traps.
Gases in the Ocean water
—  Nitrogen-nitrogen fixiing bacteria can fix nitrogen into a
form than can be use for organism.
—  Carbondioxide is about 60 times more abundant in the
ocean than the air.
—  WHY..? Organism such as algae and coral need the
carbondioxide for photosynthesis.
—  Oxygen is not as abundant as carbondioxide. It is used for
respiration.
Non conservative properties can be changes by
chemical reactions or biological processes
within the water column.

Oxigen enters the ocean from the atmosphere at

the sea surface. It is also produced through
photosinthesis by phytoplankton in the sunlight
upper ocean (photic zone or euphotic zone) and
consumed by respiration by zooplankton,
bacteria, and other creatures. Equilibration with
the atmosphere keeps ocean mixed layer waters
at close to 100% saturation. Below the surface
layers , oxigen content drops rapidly.
The drops in oxygen content and saturation with depth is due to
respiration within the water column, mainly by bacteria feeding
on organic matter (mostly dead plankton and fecal pelet) sinking
from the photic zone. Since there is no source of oxygen below
the mixed layer ajd photic zone, oxygen decreases with the
increasing age of the subsurface water parcels.

Oxygen is also used by nitrifying bacteria, which convert the

nitrogen in ammonium (NH4 ) to nitrate (NH3 )

Oxygen utilitation rate: the rate which oxygen is consumed. This rate
depends on biological productivity so it is not uniform is space
Nitrate, nitrite, ammonium and phosphate re-enter the water
column as biological (bacterial) activity decays the soft
parts of the falling dentritus.

Ammonium and phosphate are immediated produts of the

decay. Nitrifying bacteria, which are present through the
water column, then convert ammonium to nitrite and finally
nitrate; this process also, in addition to respiration,
consumes oxygen. Because oxygen is consumes and
nutrients are produced the ratios of nitrate to oxygen and
phosphate to oxygen are nearly constant troughout the
ocean. These proportion are known as “Redfield ratios”
—  Other non conservative properties related to the
ocean’s carbon system, including dissolved organic
carbon, alkalinity, and pH. These have both natural
and anthropogenic sources and are useful tracers
of water masses.
—  Other non conservative properties related to the
ocean’s carbon system, including dissolved
organic carbon, alkalinity, and pH. These have
both natural and anthropogenic sources and are
useful tracers of water masses.